Meetings & Minutes

Maine Apprenticeship Council Meeting Minutes - January 2008

January 23, 2008:

Minutes:

Apprenticeship Committee Minutes January 23, 2008 Bureau of Employment Services Commerce Center

Members present: Gene Ellis, Director; Don Berry, Chair; Phil Dionne; Bob Bourgault; Alan Wyman; Kate Grambow; Tuesdi Woodworth; Peaches Bass; Jim Cook; Doug Robertson

Members absent: Jeff Cammack; John Napolitano

Guests present: Jill Houser, USDOL Region I Director; Jim Williams; Merle Davis; Nancy Johnson; Garret Oswald; Lisa Woods; Susan Turgeon, Scribe Attending via Polycom: Kathy Ferguson; Cher Tyra; Becky Ruggiero; Bob Darling

Meeting was called to order at 9:10 a.m.

A quorum was not reached.

Introductions were made.

Meeting minutes from July, 2007 were reviewed; motion made and seconded – minutes approved.

Program Approvals List of new pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs from July 1 to December 31 was distributed. Suggestion made to vote on programs, and if quorum not attained, vote electronically at later date.

List of current committee members distributed. There was discussion of necessary factors for membership. At least two members who are representatives of the public, must represent interests of women, minorities and recipients of aid, two families with dependant children who are in registered apprenticeships.

Motion made and seconded to approve the program approvals. Motion approved.

Field Representative Reports Jim Williams: • Have 47 apprentices and pre-apprentices in Region 1; this ranges from cooks, security system installers, business office management, ed techs, etc. • 35 are North Star Alliance through Louisiana Pacific Corporation. • Presentation given at St. John Valley Tech. • Presentation at Caribou High School Tech Center; new director is Ralph Conroy. Will meet with the instructors to present information. • Gave presentation at Presque Isle High School CTE; Larry Fox is the director. • Will be signing up two pre-apprentices at Ashland High School.

Lisa Woods: • Have five Head Start Waldo County teachers signed up. • Have contacted Debbie Somers from Penquis Head Start. They cover Knox County. • John is at Maine Gold, setting up three apprenticeships. They manufacture maple syrup. One will be management retail, two on the manufacturing end. • Waldo Tech School will be running welding course for Cianbro Corp.

Nancy Johnson: • Nothing for North Star at this time.
• Since July, enrolled six Head Start teachers at KVCAP, and one at GoodWill Hinckley. • Discussion with Sappi and Madison Paper about pulp and paper. Madison is ‘on the fence’; Sappi will have major retirements in five years. Discussions will continue. • Working with KVCAP for three new apprentices. • Staff will be touring Backyard Farms in Madison.

Gene attended Agriculture Trade Show at Augusta Civic Center; made some good connections there. Met with various agricultural groups, such as cheesemakers, etc.; looking to future with agriculture and aquaculture groups.

Bob Darling: • Very involved with Tri-County Technical Center; have two on board – woodworking shop hand and graphic designer with Bangor Neon Sign Company. Third one is in the works with Norton Construction Co, as entry level carpenter. • Several apprentices in Milo-Brownville School District. • Met with Dan Steinke, dentist in Dover-Foxcroft – interested in getting dental assistant on board. • Met with Ken Proctor at Mayo Regional Hospital, regarding interest in medical assistants.

Becky Ruggiero: • Pre-apprenticeship projects in United Technology Center and Hancock County Technology Center. • Met with Ellsworth Chamber of Commerce. • Follow up meeting with radio station in Ellsworth who is interested in partnering to advertise. • Very busy with tuition reimbursements in last quarter. Sent mailing to apprentices reminding what is needed for reimbursements. • Met with Brewer Automotive Components. They make parts for Toyota. They will have approximately fifteen apprentices to sign up. • We have new sponsor in Millinocket area. Went to meeting in November with possibility of getting courses started regarding dental assistants, hygienists, etc. • Met with Michelle Park regarding North Star Alliance. Three more apprentices have been signed up in boat building field.

Kathleen Ferguson: • Interested in meat cutter apprenticeship; have person working at Hannaford. Pulled out information on standards. • Registered new sponsor in Stratton, has electrician apprentice. • Have 25 more coming in from Verso Paper. Had three drop out from first group. • Pre-apprentices are still ongoing. • Working on third Cianbro training; fantastic working with them; next training starting February.

Cher Tyra: • New North Star Alliance representative – James Westoff. He is working with Symmetry in Auburn on new apprenticeships. They make medical trays, • Have a total of eight registered apprentices in this area. • In process of working with Downeast Machine, and a number of other companies. • Eastern Fire Protection has responded regarding a pipefitter position. • Did presentation at Lewiston High School to get pre-apprenticeship program up and running. • Held Job Fair in October. • In February, there will be a meeting to get pre-apprenticeship program going.

DVDs on the Apprenticeship Program are available; they will be distributed to each CareerCenter. Suggestion made to Region 1 to put link to DVD on website.

Director’s Report: • Apprentice summary report from July 1 to date was distributed. Apprentices and pre-apprentices now total 847.
• Carl Perkins Act is federal dollars for training in high schools and community colleges. States are required to put together five-year plan. Plan is in draft form and being reviewed; will go to comment in February and send in by April 1. • Important emphasis for us is that all secondary and post secondary students are made aware of apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship opportunities, and each school (26) have contact with MDOL about opportunities every school year. Long term view is that pre-apprentice can transition easily to apprenticeship. Information was distributed. • Draft of Apprenticeship Program Annual Report distributed. In 2007, 350 apprentices were registered; this is a 265% increase over 2006. The program return on investment is that for every dollar of the apprenticeship budget, we are putting $49.00 into the economy; that is up from $35.00 in 2006. • We are beginning a partnership with Jobs for Maine Graduates (JMG).

Other Issues: Jill Houser, new Region 1 Director, introduced to discuss new draft on 2929. Fact sheets and copies of Federal Register were distributed. Comment period ends February 11; send to Tom Dowd. Sheryl Herd will be available to answer questions. There will be a webinar next Tuesday, the 29th.

Gene, Jill, Becky, Lisa Cyr, Irene Lee had a demo in the form of a webinar on USDOL Apprentice tracking system, called RAPIDS. Maine may decide to use this tracking system; it is web-based. It does not provide the return on investment calculation; this is being worked on by Karen Morgan, Director of NASTAD. She is the Apprenticeship Director in Wisconsin. Jill will demonstrate the system after the meeting.

Jill discussed the new DVD, and will get additional copies if necessary.

The Eastern Seaboard Apprenticeship Council (ESAC) will be held the first week of June in Foxwoods, CT. Jill will be doing presentations on what is new in apprenticeship; it would be great if someone from North Star Alliance and/or Maine could attend and speak about successes.

Phil discussed issue of community colleges’ requirement of making students aware of apprenticeship. Initial issue was that they couldn’t compete with students working and getting paid vs. just paying tuition. There was discussion of this issue.

In general, it is allowable for employers to grant credit for previous experience, which includes academic credit as well as job training. If people are registered that are taking classes now, we will pay for that class; cannot go back in time to reimburse. As long as there is continuing employment, money for classes can be allowed.

Re: North Star Alliance – we are more than half through three-year period. There is possibility of first round of WIRED dollars may allow unexpended funds to be used in a fourth year. This is not definite.

Gene has been working with Kate and Barbara Woodlee at KVCC regarding proportion of women’s apprenticeship; using some apprenticeship dollars to fund a semester of college in a non-traditional occupation for a pool of eligible women who would be interested.

There will be a meeting the end of the month with machine tool and pulp and paper instructors; the idea would be to pick up a semester of tuition and based on grades, there would be employers to hire students. This would help to correct an imbalance; there has, however, been a 10% increase in women apprentices.

This is being looked at with SMCC and NMCC as well.

Motion was made and seconded that we ratify by electronic vote the actions taken at this meeting today, including approval of the July, 2007 minutes and program approvals. Motion passed.

Per Garret Oswald – apprenticeship minutes, membership and information about apprenticeship will shortly be on Maine Jobs Council website. There is a Maine Jobs Council meeting next Friday.

Information from meeting will be emailed to Jeff Cammack.

Meeting adjouned.

Next meetings: Frances Perkins room, Commerce Center

April 23 July 23 October 22

 Addendum: Meeting minutes and voting of approvals accomplished electronically by voting members after the meeting.